Deerfield Beach grad Jerry Jeudy drafted by Denver Broncos

Jerry Jeudy made a promise when his younger sister, Aaliyah, died in November of 2016.

“I swear I'm going to make it for you and mommy,” he tweeted, with a picture of his late sister, who was 7 years old at the time and had health complications since birth.

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Jeudy, a Deerfield Beach grad, delivered on that promise. On Thursday night, the Alabama wide receiver became a first-round pick in the NFL draft, going to the Denver Broncos with the No. 15 pick.

He was the second wideout taken, selected after his Crimson Tide teammate Henry Ruggs III, who went to the Las Vegas Raiders at 12.

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“When I was younger, [I told them] that I’m going to be an NFL player and that, one day, I’ll be able to take care of them,” Jeudy said this week on ESPN’s NFL Live. “Now I finally got the opportunity to do so, it just shows them how serious I am about them and how much I care and love for them.”

Jeudy found out about his sister’s death after a regional final playoff victory over Atlantic in his senior season with the Bucks. Jeudy played his final high school game the ensuing Friday night in a state semifinal loss, and he pushed to get to this point over three seasons with the Crimson Tide, winning the Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s top receiver in 2018 as a sophomore.

“He was driven,” said Deerfield coach Jevon Glenn. “I was really impressed with how he was able to turn his pain into motivation, his pain into a passion for the game of football. Jerry always loved ball, so that was the easy part. I think he fell in love with the process of what it’s going to take.”

Glenn recalls Jeudy telling him he wanted to become the best receiver in the nation after his junior season of high school. Torching opposing defensive backs at the Under Armour All-America Game’s Future 50 event for juniors, Glenn knew Jeudy’s wishes weren’t too far-fetched.

“He had uber talent. He oozed potential,” Glenn said. “The biggest thing we were trying to get him to understand is that potential is actually useless if it’s dormant and if you don’t have the work to go in behind it.”

Glenn gave Jeudy a plan to take the next step, and there were two key changes Jeudy had to make.

“He had to learn how to take care of his body, learn how to rest,” Glenn said. “Jerry’s a go, go, go guy. He’s so competitive. He’ll play in five 7-on-7 tournaments in a day. Then he’ll work out.

“Then, some of his eating habits. He was a snacker, just the hot chips, just bad with what he ate. He didn’t have a lot actually, so it was kind of two-fold. We had to get him some stuff that he and his family can afford but that was just a little healthier, a little better for his body to produce more energy, actually starting to think of food as fuel.”

As a freshman at Alabama, Jeudy had 14 receptions for 264 yards and two touchdowns, contributing early to the national champions of the 2017 season. In his Biletnikoff Award-winning season of 2018, Jeudy caught 68 passes for 1,315 yards and 14 touchdowns, including one each in the College Football Playoff semifinal win over Oklahoma at Hard Rock Stadium and in the championship loss to Clemson. His junior season, he made 77 catches for 1,163 yards and 10 touchdowns before declaring early for the draft.

Jeudy was considered Broward County’s top football prospect in the 2017 class by the Sun Sentinel. Rivals and the 247 Sports composite rankings tabbed him the nation’s No. 3 receiver prospect.